The third season of ''The Max Headroom Show'' credits "Matt Forrest / Art of Noise" with the titles. It appears that the group performed the show's theme tune, while Matt Forrest was the visuals artist.

The third season of ''The Max Headroom Show'' credits "Matt Forrest / Art of Noise" with the titles. It appears that the group performed the show's theme tune, while Matt Forrest was the visuals artist.

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===Tina Turner specials (1986/1987)===

===Tina Turner specials (1986/1987)===

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There are no video clips or further information about the UK show. The clip at right is from the US broadcast.

There are no video clips or further information about the UK show. The clip at right is from the US broadcast.

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===Max on ''Sesame Street'' (1988)===

===Max on ''Sesame Street'' (1988)===

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===Comic Relief/Red Nose Day: "A Night of Comic Relief 2" (1989)===

===Comic Relief/Red Nose Day: "A Night of Comic Relief 2" (1989)===

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Although many video clips from this telethon are available, none of Max's appearance appear to exist. It is possible that an edited stream of prior material was used, rather than a new appearance.

Although many video clips from this telethon are available, none of Max's appearance appear to exist. It is possible that an edited stream of prior material was used, rather than a new appearance.

Revision as of 10:47, 28 November 2015

Max Headroom was created as a host and interviewer, but like all created celebrities he found a ready audience in other hosts and interviewers. This page lists Max's known interviews and appearances on other shows and in print media.

Television Interviews

Max was formally interviewed as a guest on another host's show at least twice. These are the two most famous incidences. There may be other brief ones for television news and entertainment shows, not yet located.

Terry Wogan Interview (1985)

Terry Wogan's interview will commence when Max wakes up...

Terry Wogan is an extremely well-known presenter and interviewer whose programs have been seen and heard on BBC television and radio since 1971. In 1985 (date uncertain), Wogan interviewed Max on his show Wogan.

The interview began with a shot of a complaining Max being carried in - in his travel-TV box - from a curbside limousine. When Wogan began the interview, Max was solidly asleep and snoring.

Terry Wogan interviews Max (1985)

David Letterman Interview (1986)

David Letterman applauds Max's scintillating introduction to the US audience.

On July 17, 1986, American late-night host David Letterman interviewed Max on his show. This may have been the first time many in the general US audience saw Max as himself, since not everyone had cable, MTV (where the Paranoimia video was in regular rotation) or Cinemax. Most were probably familar with him through the Coke commercials that had begun earlier in the year, or general TV-culture influence, but many had never actually seen Max... be Max.

Once again, Max began the interview by pretending to be asleep - which may have been as much a technical issue as a performance, allowing the video to come up with Max in a natural "hold" state without trying to cue in TV warmup, technical processing, audio links etc.

After a slightly smutty joke about having "a soggy dream, big fella... there's oil everywhere!" Letterman banters with Max for almost eight minutes in an exchange that meets his best scripted work on his own shows. Most of Letterman's questions are about Max's details, and Max deflects them with his best humor and style.

David Letterman interviews Max (1986)(Part of a longer clip; Max begins at 14:12)

There is an interesting technical glitch when Max's audio cuts out... and we can hear him yelling from somewhere offstage until the glitch is fixed. (That would go on IMDb as a "Revealing Mistake.") A technician also has to sneak onto the set to adjust Max's monitor at one point. It is possible that the entire appearance, glitches, miscues and all, was affected by Max having to make his appearance early in the show, to make up for Grace Jones being late to the studio (which both he and Letterman joke about).

There is also a rumor that Frewer is briefly visible backstage, possibly in part of his Max makeup and costume, but edited video of the show does not contain such a glimpse.

Both Grace Jones and Letterman's bandleader Paul Shaffer would appear about a year later on the final Cinemax season of The Max Headroom Show. Letterman would self-parody Max's visit later by styling his house jester as "Larry Bud Headroom."

The clip linked above is part of the complete show video and should start with Max's interview at 14:12; if not, skip forward. Shorter clips are available but are lesser quality and omit some material.

Other TV & Film Appearances

Max made a number of brief appearances on TV other than on his own shows. This list is believed to be complete.

Max in The Art of Noise's "Paranoimia" video (1986)

The Art of Noise, "Paranoimia" video,with Max Headroom on vocals.

One of the stranger entries in Max Headroom's c.v. is his vocal and video appearance in a recut version of the dance club song "Paranoimia," by British techno group The Art of Noise. (The title is said to be a mash-up of "paranoia" and "insomnia.")

Art of Noise was a popular synth/pop/techno band in the mid-1980s and had just released their album "In Visible Silence," which included an almost vocal-free 4:46 version of "Paranoimia." For reasons that are a bit murky, but probably connect through the group being on a Chrysalis-distributed label, the song was recut into two versions with Max providing vocal inserts (not singing).

The most widely known version was a 3:18 cut released as a 7-inch single (on vinyl... that's an obsolete nonvolatile storage medium, kids), and backing what became a very popular video - a combination of Max, club music and freaky imagery.

An extended club/dance version was also released as a 12-inch 6:42 single. This version has a different set of Max vocals that are in part club MC calls.

There may be yet other cuts of this combo, as there are references in some listings to Max "introducing the band" in signature style that are not heard on either of the above versions.

There are several connections between Art of Noise and Max Headroom's shows. One is that the group was known for their use of the Fairlight sampler, which could sample other sounds and inject them into the track via the synthesizer. (Like Peter Frampton's vocalizer, used on "Do You Feel Like I Do" in the same era, there was a brief fad for this kind of injected sampling. Sampling in various forms is of course still widely used in dance and hip-hop tracks.) The Fairlight company is credited in the credits for the second season of the ABC series, for contributions that are not clear.

The third season of The Max Headroom Show credits "Matt Forrest / Art of Noise" with the titles. It appears that the group performed the show's theme tune, while Matt Forrest was the visuals artist.

Tina Turner specials (1986/1987)

Max introduces Tina Turner in concert.

Max returned the favor of Tina Turner appearing on his Christmas Special by appearing briefly on hers, "Tina!," which aired in the UK on 28 December 1986.

This show appears to have been re-run, in all or part, as the HBO special "Tina Turner: Break Every Rule" on 14 March 1987. Descriptions of the latter show have Tina performing at Club Zero in London, where she is introduced by Max Headroom, so it can be assumed that there's a connection. (As we've seen from the Channel Four-Cinemax connections on The Max Headroom Show, there was as much popular-program co-production in this era as in any later epoch of PBS/BBC/Masterpiece Theater programming.)

There are no video clips or further information about the UK show. The clip at right is from the US broadcast.

Max on Sesame Street (1988)

Max on Sesame Street.

Max appeared in episode 2478 of the long-running children's show Sesame Street (4 May 1988) to recite the alphabet in characteristic style. The clip was re-run at least once, in episode 2499 (8 Dec 1988).

Comic Relief/Red Nose Day: "A Night of Comic Relief 2" (1989)

Max Headroom was one of dozens of comedians and celebrities to appear on the second Comic Relief fundraising special, on 10 Mar 1989. Other than the following ads, this is believed to be the last television appearance of Max Headroom.

Although many video clips from this telethon are available, none of Max's appearance appear to exist. It is possible that an edited stream of prior material was used, rather than a new appearance.

Channel Four "Get Ready for Digital" ads (2007)

UK "Deal or No Deal" (2008)

Max on the show... maybe.

Max may or may not have made one final appearance on TV in 2008, as the "banker" in an episode of the UK iteration of the globally copied game show "Deal or No Deal" (broadcast by Channel Four). He was shown in the "old Max" makeup and prosthetics from the Channel Four "Get Ready for Digital" ads.

Max on Deal or No Deal.

The date of the appearance is uncertain but a clip was posted on YouTube on May 27, 2008, so it must have been as the Channel Four ads were running, or just after. The clip linked here is a peculiar one, with some badly-edited footage from the show mixed with audio from BBC radio presenter James Whale. (Frankly, I hate these weird mashups that some YT contributors seem to prize as valuable additions to the world's bitstream.) Anyway, mute the sound. Wave at Max.

Further information on this appearance is sought.

"Pixels" (2015)

Max, alien Max or zombie Max?

(Sigh... and I had such high hopes for this...) Thirty years later, Max finally makes his big-screen debut... sort of. The film "Pixels" is about Earth being invaded by a collection of aliens who look strangely like video game characters, and in the midst of them is an alien Max Headroom.

Max plays intergalactic door-doorman.

What's interesting is that while Frewer voiced and acted the character, it is the first time Max is genuinely a computer-generated figure. This breakthrough - as much artistic and esthetic as technical - could open the door to a return of Max with a considerably older Frewer still doing the characterization.

On the other hand, this rather puffy-faced and poorly "Maxified" appearance does not bode well for further appearances using this technique. Many parodies of Max look and sound more like the real thing... I guess hoping for better, given that the movie is widely considered a big-budget stinker, was too much.

At least I finally got to change the header for this section, though!

Print Interviews

Playboy: 20 Questions for Max Headroom (January 1987)

The lead for Max's Playboy interview. Golf again...

Playboy magazine gave Max space for a short-form "20 Questions" interview in their January 1987 issue. (The content was probably written by Steve Roberts, possibly with input from Paul Owen, David Hansen and maybe even Matt Frewer.)

Newsweek: M-M-Mad About Max (cover article, April 20, 1987)

Playboy: Max to the Max (January 1988)

Max expresses his opinion of Matt Frewer being stylish for Playboy.

This item comes closer to being a writeup about Max than an interview or appearance. Matt Frewer posed for a four-page fashion layout, wearing the usual array of extremely expensive designer clothes (leather jackets and slacks, mostly), with a cameo shot of Max in the opening splash and, of course, a very Max-y writeup com-com-complete with stutters.

It is one of the very last Max articles to appear and was likely scheduled and locked in before the cancellation of the ABC series and the lack of another Cinemax show.